If you’re looking to become more of a locavore when it comes to your shopping diet, Sonoma County has plenty to offer. Just in time for the holidays, we’ve rounded up six great shops where you can find artisan products from local makers. This is by no means an exhaustive list: many local boutiques offer items from far and wide, but also have a section for locally made goods. Get into those stores and see what exclusive style secrets are yours to unfold and give to others for the holidays—click through the gallery for details.
The holiday gift exchange looms. The shopping world seems to be all fuzzy socks, scented candles and coffee gift cards. It’s long after Black Friday, and big box stores are crowded messes with tossed-around inventory from all their “BIG!” “SALES!” Online orders might not arrive in time. But local brick and mortar businesses are here to save you. Here are 15 unique finds—all priced under $30—sold in Sonoma County stores. Click through the above gallery for details.
When San Francisco interior designer Benjamin Dhong started searching for a Sonoma home, he had plenty of inspiration leading him in the right direction.
Fellow interior designer and dear friend Myra Hoefer had welcomed Dhong to Healdsburg many times over the years, and under her generous spirit, he came to adore Sonoma’s relaxed lifestyle. It was fitting, then, that Hoefer, who passed away in 2015, was the one who first saw the listing for Dhong’s current home, about a mile from Healdsburg’s downtown.
As an interior designer, Dhong knew he could revitalize the gardens and maximize the 1,750-square-foot interior for entertaining. Dhong built his design career almost by accident after earning a business degree from UC Berkeley.
He fell in love with architecture on a trip to Italy and left his banking career for an entry-level position at a San Francisco design firm, where he advanced quickly. “It came completely naturally,” he explains. In 2003, he opened Benjamin Dhong Interiors in San Francisco, where he still lives on weekdays.
Designer Benjamin Dhong in the kitchen with his friend and fellow Healdsburg homeowner Julia Berger.(Rebecca Chotkowski)
In the six years he’s owned the Healdsburg property, Dhong has made some structural changes, but focused most of his effort on finishes, paint, artwork, and furniture choices. First up was a kitchen renovation, with the goal of having both formal and casual eating areas at opposite ends of the 30-foot-long room. He raised the kitchen roof, added skylights, and installed a massive antique French oak apothecary cabinet along the back wall. Across from the cabinet stands a new island with sink and prep space and a thick marble waterfall edge.
The overall feel is bright and airy, with French doors that open straight into a garden and a porthole window above to let in even more light. Dhong also borrowed a few square feet of space from the garage to add a relaxing daybed nook – a small change with big impact.
The breakfast area next to the kitchen shows Dhong’s talent for mixing old and new, with a midcentury modern white Saarinen table surrounded by antique upholstered chairs. “My style is to create beautiful rooms that are efficient but elegant, designed in a way so guests can feel like they can relax here. I also like what I call rich man/poor man – high-end pieces mixed with inexpensive things.” Adjacent to the kitchen is another more formal dining area, with a pedestal dining table and chairs.
Dhong believes setting a table should be about having fun. He recommends starting with something pretty and pairing it with something unexpected. Here, he and Berger placed her linens alongside tinted glassware, mismatched china, fruit and flowers. (Rebecca Chotkowski)
Though the home is full of treasures collected over the years, the look is unified. Working within a neutral palette helps, as does Dhong’s expert eye for combining accessories. His open kitchen and large tableware collection are put to good use at this time of year. Often, Dhong takes on holiday hosting duties with another dear friend, Julia Berger, who also has a weekend home in Healdsburg. Berger is the founder of Julia B. Handmade for Life, a high-end line of custom table linens, bedding, and window treatments featuring delicate hand embroidery.
Dhong and Berger believe that holiday entertaining can be gorgeous and grand without being grueling. They love to work with lots of rich greenery, candles, and mirrors for an elegant and sparkling holiday look that’s still traditional but not overtly red-and-green.
At the holiday table, the two celebrate a mix of old and new, making the most of Dhong’s passion for antique glassware and china alongside Berger’s hand-embroidered linens. Pops of color from small clutches of red roses are a nod to the traditional holiday palette in a contemporary format. They share a love of keeping things simple but beautiful, not going overboard even at the holidays. “My favorite color is white,” says Berger.
Textile designer Julia Berger’s table linens make a sparkling holiday display at Benjamin Dhong’s Healdsburg home. Berger works with artisans to produce cocktail napkins, placemats, and other housewares. (Rebecca Chotkowski)
Although Dhong’s kitchen is photo-worthy, he claims his cooking skills are less so. He’s not afraid to sneak in some prepared foods from local markets to ease party prep. A big holiday ham is a classic choice. “It’s so easy. You mash some potatoes and add a side and you’re finished, and everyone thinks it’s so delicious and homey.” He’s also a fan of purchasing a perfectly cooked chicken or turkey from a favorite local market, then carving it and dressing it on a platter with fresh herbs cut from his garden.
“Make people feel comfortable and that will put them in a party mood. Show you’ve made an effort with candles, flowers, and a pretty table setting and then put on Pandora,” Dhong said, “People will relax, and it will all be very festive.”
In Dhong’s formal dining area, Julia Berger’s ‘Como’ linen napkins and placemats anchor another holiday table. (Rebecca Chotkowski)
Despite the expensive homes he designs for clients, Dhong doesn’t think you have to spend a lot to have a beautiful holiday table. “You can have things look 90 percent perfect with three or four trips to HomeGoods.” And he says Safeway is a great place to buy flowers and good, value-priced wines. “There’s a great deal of cooking and entertaining that goes on in Wine Country. It is part of the culture, and it is quite lovely.”
Though he’s still in San Francisco most weekdays, Dhong says his heart is in Healdsburg. “I’m so blessed and lucky to live here. It’s a wonderful lifestyle and there are so many kind and interesting people here. All around the world people recognize Sonoma as a dream place to live.”
The breakfast area has French doors that open directly to the garden. In a guest bath, Dhong repurposed an arched-front dresser as a vanity, adding a basin and marble top. A simple clutch of baby’s breath from the grocery store adds a sweet touch. (Rebecca Chotkowski)
Zazu Kitchen and Farm Duskie Estes embraces Tomas Guzman, part of the maintenance crew of The Barlow, Thursday, April 18, 2019 in Sebastopol. (Kent Porter)
After a boom in downtown restaurants in Santa Rosa, 2019 saw a horrifying six closures (and counting) in 2019.
And the numbers will likely grow. Throughout the county, some restaurateurs say they’re teetering, hoping to get through the busy Christmas season but unsure if they’ll be able to keep the doors open past January. Rents continue to rise (shockingly), permitting and construction have stalled out many and owners say the workforce has shrunk so drastically they often can’t find help.
Click through the gallery to see some of the restaurants we sadly had to say goodbye to in 2019.
MAYBE IT’S COLD OUTSIDE. And if it is, you can warm the palate, heart and soul with red wines produced from vineyards 50 years and older, whose grapes are transformed into wines that are exotically rich and spicy and also offer a hint of history with each sip.
Ancient vines are rooted throughout California, with an excellent concentration of them in Sonoma Valley. Many tasting rooms in the Valley of the Moon offer at least one bottling made from elderly grapevines, although these five are rather gaga over vinous geriatric gems.
There is no formal definition of an “old” vine, though many winemakers say 50 years is the minimum age. Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Alicante Bouschet and other grapes planted in California vineyards in the late 1880s, and which survived Prohibition, remain viable today, though in decreasing acreage as more profitable grape varieties are taking over. The time to drink the old-timers is now.
Tom Mackey, a dean of old-vine winemaking in Sonoma Valley, was the founding winemaker at St. Francis in 1971 and retired from there in 2011. Mackey, Ravenswood Winery founder Joel Peterson (he started the brand with Reed Foster in 1976) and other Sonoma growers and winemakers are driven by a deep appreciation for the intensity of wines – mostly reds – produced from ancient vines, and a desire to keep venerable vines in the ground as long as possible.
The time to drink the old-timers is now.
“Walking these vineyards, one can’t deny the sense of history and continuity,” Mackey said. “These vines are not as much a commodity as a family member. Vintages are remembered as much as (by) what occurred that year with the relatives as with the weather, harvest date and crop size.
“Like all agriculture, there must be a profit or, at least, expenses must be met. As a vineyard ages, the yield diminishes and the vines themselves become more fragile. A tractor nudge can knock them over. They are not immortal and eventually will need replacement. But while they are here, they represent a bit of permanence in an all-too-transitory world. Winemakers come and go, yet the vineyards remain.”
To that end, the Historic Vineyard Society was founded in 2009 by David Gates of Ridge Vineyards, Mike Officer of Carlisle Vineyards, Tegan Passalacqua of Turley Wine Cellars, Morgan Twain-Peterson (Joel Peterson’s son) of Bedrock Wine Co. and others. It maintains a registry of heritage California vineyards – all of which were planted no later than 1960 – in an effort to ensure senior vines are appreciated and preserved. At a time when farmers might be tempted to replace them, the society campaigns for the preservation of old vineyards in similar fashion to historic homes and buildings being saved for posterity.
Tasting rooms come and go, too. Ravenswood Winery, one of the most passionate, modern-day producers of wines from ancient vines, had its Sonoma visitor center closed in May 2019 by property owner Constellation Brands. Ravenswood continues to bottle wines from old plantings, though no tasting opportunities are available now.
Here are five Sonoma Valley wineries that offer not just one but several wines made from vines planted long, long ago.
Morgan Twain Peterson is the owner of Bedrock Wine Company. Photograph taken in Bedrock Vineyards, near Glen Ellen. (Christopher Chung)
Bedrock Wine Co.
Since its founding in 2007, Bedrock has become one of the most ardent embracers of old-vine plantings and wines produced by them. Co-founder and winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson was raised on old-vine Zins by his father, Ravenswood’s Joel Peterson.
Today, Twain-Peterson, a Master of Wine, bottles several ancient-vine wines for Bedrock, many of them poured at the Sonoma tasting room. The company purchased the 152-acre Madrone Ranch vineyard near Glen Ellen in 2005 and renamed it Bedrock Vineyard, and it serves as not only as a wine-grape source but also a repository for some 26 varieties, many of them planted a century ago. Planted in 1854 by Gen. William “Tecumseh” Sherman and Gen. “Fightin” Joe Hooker, the vineyard passed through several owners, among them the Hearsts, Parduccis and Domenicis, before falling to Bedrock.
So many of its small-lot wines hail from old vines from throughout California, yet two locals stand out: The Bedrock Heritage Red Wine Sonoma Valley ($46), a mélange of two dozen grape types; and the Compagni Portis Vineyard White Wine Sonoma Valley ($30), an exotic mix of Gewurztraminer, Trousseau Gris, Riesling, Burger and other increasingly rare varieties. Wines from historic Pagani Ranch and Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma Valley are also among the jewels from Bedrock.
Gen. Joseph Hooker House, 414 First Street East, Sonoma, 707-343-1478, bedrockwineco.com. (appointment only)
Cline Cellars
Fred and Nancy Cline’s winery might be in Sonoma, yet it gives visitors an opportunity to taste old-vine wines from Oakley in Contra Costa County, where as a kid, Fred helped his grandfather, Valeriano Jacuzzi (of hot tub fame), grow grapes.
Fred founded Cline Cellars in Oakley in 1986, specializing in old-vine Zinfandel, Mourvedre and other Rhone Valley grapes. He married Nancy Cline in 1986 and relocated the winery to Sonoma, yet continues to make bold, richly flavored reds from Oakley, in addition to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Viognier and other varietals.
Ask for the Big Break Vineyard Zinfandel Contra Costa County ($37), made from vines planted more than 80 years ago, and the Ancient Vines Carignane Contra Costa County ($23), made from vines planted in the early 1900s through the 1940s.
There is more than just jaw-dropping, French Normandy-style castle architecture to lure visitors to the winery Steve Ledson built on Highway 12 near Kenwood in the early 1990s. A variety of experiences are offered, as one would expect in such a grand space, including tours, multiple tasting spaces for nearly every varietal common in California and a marketplace offering sandwiches, gourmet condiments and gifts.
Yet Ledson, a native Sonoman, would most want guests to appreciate his commitment to bottling wines made from old vines. The Ledson Estate Ancient Vine Zinfandel Sonoma Valley ($68), for example, comes from grapes planted in 1887. Estate Old Vine Syrah ($46) and Estate Old Vine Barbera ($54) are both from Sonoma Valley. And Ledson’s Ciapusci Estate Old Vine Zinfandel Sonoma Valley ($36) was planted to clones taken from a 154-year-old vineyard on Mendocino Ridge in Mendocino County.
Tom Mackey retired in 2011 as the founding winemaker at this eastern Santa Rosa winery, having acquired grapes from multiple, old-vine sites over his 31 years at St. Francis. He also mentored Katie Madigan in the wiles of and ways to produce old-vine reds (Chris Louton is co-winemaker, focusing on Bordeaux varieties).
Madigan’s Old Vines Zinfandel Sonoma County ($22) is a blend of Zinfandel and Petite Syrah grapes from vines aged 50 to 100 years and is a flagship bottling at a great price. The Tres Viejos Old Vines Zinfandel Sonoma County ($48), from vineyards 70 years old and more in the Alexander, Russian River and Sonoma valleys, is small in case production yet well worth asking for at the visitor center. It won the “Best of the Best” award at the 2019 North Coast Wine Challenge.
For a taste of an old-school, old-vine “mixed blacks” blend, don’t miss the Eletto Heritage Vines Red Wine Sonoma County ($52), a field blend of Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah, Carignane and Zinfandel.
St. Francis Winery off Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley at Pythian Road. (Courtesy photo)
Wellington Cellars
Founder Peter Wellington sold his property to the Belmonte family in 2014, and the new-ish owners – Henry Belmonte and his parents, Vittorio and Maria Belmonte of VJB Cellars – have made several upgrades to the Wellington property since their acquisition, among them a new winery and tasting space and replanting of some of the vineyards.
One thing has not changed: Wellington’s devotion to old-vine zinfandel. There are three, estate Sonoma Valley bottlings, and the 2016s have just been released. Named for the year in which the vines were planted, the Wellington Estate 1882 Zinfandel Sonoma Valley ($44), Estate 1912 Zinfandel Sonoma Valley ($42) and Estate 1924 Zinfandel Sonoma Valley ($39) are remarkable for their complexity.
During the holiday season, seeking out the delightful decorations at wineries can be part of the fun. Introducing family and friends to your favorite tasting rooms is also a time-honored tradition in Sonoma County. Click through the gallery for a few favorite wine destinations for holiday cheer and unique gift-giving opportunities.
Featured Winery — Anaba Wines
The winds that sweep over the Carneros region are called anabatic winds, so the Sweazey family chose Anaba as the name for its winery when it was founded here in 2006.
John Thomas Sweazey is proprietor, running the winery together with his son, John Michael Sweazey. Winemakers Ross Cobb and Katy Wilson coax rich flavors from their grapes, most notably Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, from locations that include the fog-kissed slopes of Wildcat Mountain Vineyard in the Carneros. Anaba is known for its Rhône varietals such as Viognier and Grenache and also produces white and red blends, Syrah, and a port.
Fun fact: In 2009, Anaba was the first Northern California winery to install a wind turbine for electricity. The single turbine generates enough power to run most operations throughout the winery property, including an electric car-charging station. For many years, tastings at Anaba took place in the 120-year-old Sweazey farmhouse.
Now, the family has unveiled the inviting new Vintners House, an elegant structure that offers views over estate vineyards and distant hills. The farmhouse remains part of Anaba’s hospitality center, but tastings now take place in the new facility.
The “Vintners House” seated tasting is a flight of five wines ($25), offered inside or outside in the garden courtyard, weather permitting. The premier tasting is a six-wine seated flight of single-vineyard wines, along with food bites ($35, reservations recommended). Two “Grand Cru” tastings are also offered, with flights of all-white or all-red, small-lot wines paired with light snacks ($55 to $65, reservations required).
60 Bonneau Road, Sonoma, 707-996-4188, anabawines.com. Open daily 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Like many of us, Sonoma County native Jenny Harrow can get overwhelmed by the demands of the season. When that happens, she recommends a nice, long bath.
This is no ordinary soaking, more an immersion in nature rather than water. Harrow is a local expert in shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practice of “forest bathing,” in which the stressed-out seek relief from an anxious world by heading to the outdoors.
Shinrin-yoku combines elements of Shinto and Buddhist teachings to promote intense awareness of natural surroundings in its practitioners. A growing body of scientific research shows time in nature can relieve a variety of modern-day ailments, from depression and anxiety to high blood pressure and cognitive decline.
Harrow said Sonoma County’s cooler, rainy months are a great time to discover forest bathing.
“We don’t have to be outside only when it’s sunny or nice,” she said. “I’ve led excursions in the rain.” In the winter season, Occidental’s Grove of Old Trees is a favorite spot: last December, she led a winter solstice forest bathing event in the grove that brought together nearly two dozen enthusiasts.
Jenny Harrow leads forest bathing expeditions at local vineyards and parks.
Harrow’s journey to becoming a certified forest therapy guide began after she was nearly killed in a 2014 scooter crash in Texas. While her body healed, she decided to move back to Sonoma County and enroll in courses in the healing arts. Harrow now leads regular forest bathing excursions, including in Crane Canyon Regional Park and Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, as well as on vineyard lands in conjunction with Red Car Wine Co. and others. Harrow’s popular winery events are “an approachable way for people to practice mindfulness,” she says.
Forest bathing requires no special equipment, and there’s no need even for a forest, as long as there is some semblance of nature along the path. The destination is not the point. “It’s just slowing down and being present, and noticing when you do those things, the whole universe opens up to you,” Harrow said.
Sondra Bernstein is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her Sonoma restaurant The Girl & the Fig this summer. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
The holidays are coming! Leave the crowded parking lots behind and enjoy the spirit of the season at some of Sonoma County’s best cideries, creameries, and farms during Holidays Along the Farm Trails (weekends through January 1).
Festive holiday activities along the farm trails range from wreath making workshops and cider tastings to goat milking demonstrations and tea making. With so many fun options to choose from, it’s hard to know where to begin. We asked some of our favorite local chefs to share their top stops at this year’s Holidays Along the Farm Trails. Click through the gallery for details and check out chef Duskie Estes’s Farm Trails recipes.
Farm Trails Recipes
Chef Duskie Estes often heads into the kitchen with her Farm Trails purchases, cooking up delicious meals with her husband and business partner, chef John Stewart. Here are some of their favorite Farm Trails recipes.
Goat Milk Panna Cotta
For dessert, serve with a red wine syrup and a nibble of shortbread.
4 cups goat milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 lemon, zested
1 pinch of dried lavender
1 tablespoon powdered, unflavored gelatin
In a small sauce pan on medium-high heat, warm 3 cups of the goat’s milk with the sugar vanilla bean, lemon zest, and lavender. In a bowl, whisk the goat milk into the gelatin to melt. Add the remaining cup of goat’s milk. Pour through a strainer into small glass jars and refrigerate until set, about four to six hours. Serve with red wine syrup or fruit and a cookie.
John Stewart and Duskie Estes cooking with their daughter Brydie Stewart at their home in Forestville. (Erik Castro)
Ribollita with Olio Nuovo… Tuscan Bread and Bean Soup
This is the perfect soup to showcase Olio Nuovo, which becomes available around November. In Tuscany, the Italians won’t even consider finishing with olive oil by summer, they’d rather wait for the new oil. This soup is intended to be a use for the kitchen’s leftovers. We love it so much that when we moved to Sonoma, John’s first goal was to grow everything for this soup himself – even the olives!
2 cups heirloom beans
2 bay leaves
4 cloves peeled garlic, divided
2 stalks celery
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion, peeled
1 leek, white part only
Quality extra virgin olive oil, copious amounts
1/2 savoy cabbage, cut into chiffonade
1 bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and cut into chiffonade
6 cups water
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 loaf day old rustic bread, crust removed
Cover the beans with water and soak overnight. Cook the beans with the bay leaves and two of the garlic cloves until soft, about one hour. Strain, reserving one cup of the liquid to add to the soup. Process the remaining two cloves of garlic with the celery, carrot, onion, and leek until very fine, but not wet (still with tiny pieces of the vegetables, not a puree). Sauté the vegetables in about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil on medium-low heat until fragrant and slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the beans and their cooking water, cabbage, chard, and water. Let simmer approximately an hour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Crumble the stale bread into chunks and place a handful of the bread in each bowl. Ladle soup over and let sit a few minutes for bread to soften and broth to be absorbed. Finish each bowl with extra virgin olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.
The Western Burger featuring onion rings, cheddar cheese, applewood bacon, and barbecue sauce at the new Carmen’s Burger Bar location at 619 4th St in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, August 21, 2019. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
Restaurants and bakeries are still popping up throughout the county, and for that we’re grateful. We’ve gathered some of our favorite new(ish) spots, along with yet-to-open restaurants on the horizon.
There was a time when kids and Wine Country visits was not a great combo. Wine-loving parents planning a getaway had to cut a deal with Grandma and Grandpa and leave junior at home.
In recent years, however, Wine Country has become increasingly family friendly. There’s a growing number of kid-friendly wineries and restaurants (beyond burger and pizza chains) and local hotels are making sure that everyone in the family (even dogs) are happy and content. In fact, some hotels are such a paradise for kids you might find it hard to get them to leave.
Click through the above gallery for Sonoma County properties where it’s great to be a kid. (Or a kid at heart.)
Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments!
